1 Francesco Benavides, CSBN 258924 Law Offices of Francesco Benavides 2 1990 N. California Blvd. Suite 20 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 3 Tel: (925) 222-7071 4 Fax: (925) 522-5306 Email: [email protected] 5

6 Attorney for Plaintiff RENEE MICHELLE SNEATH 7

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SACRAMENTO DIVISION 11

12 RENEE MICHELLE SNEATH, Case No. 2:24-cv-00637-EFB 13 Plaintiff, STIPULATION FOR THE AWARD AND 14 PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES AND 15 v. EXPENSES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT; 16 MARTIN J. O’MALLEY, ORDER 17 Commissioner of Social Security,

18 Defendant. 19 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties through their 20 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Plaintiff be awarded 21 attorney fees and expenses in the amount of $1,658.33, under the Equal Access to 22 Justice Act (EAJA),

(d), and no costs under

. This 23 amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by 24 counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with

(d), 25 1920. 26 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Plaintiff, the government will 27 consider the matter of Plaintiff’s assignment of EAJA fees to counsel. Pursuant to 1 Astrue v. Ratliff,

,

,

(2010), the ability 2 to honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to any offset 3 allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury’s Offset Program. After 4 the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine whether they are 5 subject to any offset. 6 Fees shall be made payable to Plaintiff, but if the Department of the Treasury 7 determines that Plaintiff does not owe a federal debt, then the government shall cause 8 the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made directly to Plaintiff’s counsel, 9 Francesco Benavides, pursuant to the assignment executed by Plaintiff. 10 Payment of costs may be made either by electronic fund transfer (ETF) or by 11 check. 12 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Plaintiff’s request for 13 EAJA attorney fees and does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of 14 Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount shall 15 constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that Plaintiff and/or 16 Francesco Benavides, including the Law Offices of Francesco Benavides, may have 17 relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 18 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Francesco Benavides to seek 19 Social Security Act attorney fees under

(b), subject to the savings 20 clause provisions of the EAJA. 21

22 Respectfully submitted, 23

24 Dated: June 10, 2024 Law Offices of Francesco Benavides 25 By: /s/ Francesco Benavides 26 FRANCESCO P. BENAVIDES 27 Attorney for Plaintiff 1

2

3 Dated: June 10, 2024 PHILLIP A. TALBERT 4 United States Attorney MATHEW W. PILE 5 Associate General Counsel 6 Social Security Administration

7 By: /s/ Justin Martin* 8 JUSTIN MARTIN 9 Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Attorneys for Defendant 10 (*Francesco Benavides attests that Justin Martin 11 concurred with the filing of this document and permission to use his electronic signature was 12 obtained via email on June 10, 2024). 13

14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 ORDER 2 Based upon the parties’ Stipulation for the Award and Payment of Equal Access 3 to Justice Act Fees and Expenses, IT IS ORDERED that: the Stipulation for Award 4 5 || and Payment of EAJA Fees and Expenses (ECF No. 14) is GRANTED in the amount o 6 || $1,658.33, as authorized by

, and no costs under

, be 7 awarded subject to the terms of the Stipulation. 8 9 ce J a Dated: June 17, 2024 SL tht A Fe DteLP 10 EDMUND F, BRENNAN 11 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -4-